Jimmy Jones (born June 23, 1950) is a former all-star

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). Jones was a graduate of the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC). He moved to Canada in 1973, and played for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders, and helped lead the Alouettes to a Grey Cup win in 1974.

Early years

Jones played football at John Harris High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he became one of top rated

s in the nation. He won the starter job during his junior year, passing and running for over 2,300 yards and 20

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s, then 2,400 yards with 40

s in his senior year. Jones was named to the first team All-American High School team in 1968 and had numerous scholarship offers. He was such a dominant player at this level, that the school retired his number No. 10 jersey after his last game. John Harris High School was merged with William Penn High School in 1971, becoming Harrisburg High School.

College career

Jones attended the

and became one of the few

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

starting

s of that era in

Division I (NCAA) NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

, influencing during his college career the breaking of different color barriers. As a sophomore in 1969, he helped lead USC to an undefeated season (10-0-1), a Rose Bowl win over the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and a third-place ranking. During that season the team became known as the "Cardiac Kids", because of their last-minute comebacks. Jones was also the first

to appear on a

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

Cover (9/29/1969). In 1970, he was part of USC's "all-black"

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the ...

(the first one of its kind in

history), that included fullback

Sam Cunningham Samuel Lewis Cunningham Jr (August 15, 1950 – September 7, 2021), nicknamed "Bam", was an American football fullback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football at ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Clarence Davis. Jones was one of the five USC

starters (along with

, Clarence Davis, Charlie Weaver and

Tody Smith Lawrence Edward Smith (December 24, 1948 – July 18, 1999) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills. He played college football at the University ...

), that played against an all-white

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

football team, winning 42–21 in Birmingham on September 12, 1970. This game was historically significant, because it played a key role in convincing the

and its fan base to accelerate the integration of its football team. For his career he compiled a 22-8-3 record and established school marks at: * Career passing attempts (602) * Career passes completed (382) * Career passing yards (4,902) * Career rushing attempts (842) * Career

passes and rushing (42) * Passing yards in a season (1,877) *

Touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

passes in a season (13) * Most passes attempted in a season * Total yards in a season (1,936) * Most passes attempted in a game (36) * Most passes completed in a game (21)

CFL career

Montreal Alouettes

In the spring of 1972 he went undrafted after not receiving much interest from NFL teams as a

. After a year out of football, in 1973 he signed to play in the

for the

. In 1974 he helped his team win the 1974 Grey Cup and was named an East All-Star. This would become his finest season with 2297 yards passing, 18

passes, 577 yards rushing and 5 TDs. He was selected as the Eastern All-Star at quarterback. In

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

the Alouettes once again reached the 1975 Grey Cup, but this time they lost to the Edmonton Eskimos. Unfortunately, on a bitterly cold day Jones mishandled the snap on a last second

Don Sweet Don Sweet (born July 13, 1948) is a former star football kicker for the Montreal Alouettes and Montreal Concordes of the Canadian Football League. College years Sweet graduated from Washington State University in 1971. He was a Pacific-10 Confer ...

field goal and the Als lost the game by one point.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Jones signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the 1976 season, and played 3 years there.

Ottawa Rough Riders

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, he signed with the Ottawa Rough Riders. Jones spent his final season as a back-up to

Condredge Holloway Condredge Holloway Jr. (born January 25, 1954) is a former quarterback for the University of Tennessee and later in the Canadian Football League. Holloway was one of the first African-American quarterbacks to receive national exposure. His nickna ...

, seeing limited playing time.

Career regular season statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jimmy 1950 births Living people American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Montreal Alouettes players Ottawa Rough Riders players USC Trojans football players Sportspeople from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Wilmington, Delaware African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople